B.C. ferry strikes rock, sinks
Native villagers help rescue 99 aboard; fate of 2 is unclear

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HARTLEY BAY, B.C. -- In fishing boats and speedboats, the people of this small Indian village headed into the stormy waters off British Columbia's north coast to help rescue at least 99 passengers and crew members from a large B.C. ferry that hit a rock and sank early Wednesday. David Hahn, the president of B.C. Ferries, called the orderly rescue from the ferry's lifeboats and the fact that no one was seriously hurt miraculous. "Any time you have a major incident and you have no one hurt or killed in this type of thing, I think you always think it's a miracle," Hahn said.

But the fate of two people who had reservations for the trip remained a mystery, The Globe and Mail of Toronto reported. It was not clear whether Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette, both of the central B.C. community of 100 Mile House, boarded the ferry in Prince Rupert. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has begun a search for the couple.

Canadian Coast Guard spokesman Dan Bate said the southbound Queen of the North hit the rock without warning at 12:26 a.m. off Gil Island in Wright Sound, about 6 1/2 miles southeast of here. The area is about 80 miles south of Prince Rupert and about 580 miles northwest of Seattle.

Passengers and crew members aboard the 409-foot ship began boarding life rafts less than a half-hour later and were taken aboard villagers' boats and the Canadian icebreaker Sir Wilfred Laurier, Bate said.

Capt. Trafford Taylor, B.C. Ferries' executive vice president of operations, said the Queen of the North was out of the shipping channel when it hit the rock. An inquiry has begun. Weather at the time was reported to be 45-mph winds with choppy seas. The ferry left Prince Rupert at 8 p.m. for the overnight run to Port Hardy at the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

One passenger told Canadian Press she at first thought she was in the middle of a drill. "And then when they said to go to the other side of the boat, we knew it was real," Jill Lawrence said. "But it was very calm. Everyone seemed very calm, and the crew did an awesome job to get us off."

Nicole Robinson, a receptionist at the cultural center in Hartley Bay, a Gitk'a'ata Tribe town of about 200 residents, said many of those who arrived from the ferry were stunned and a few were treated for slight injuries. "We've just had a few patients come and go, minor injuries," she said. "The community all got together with blankets. Everybody's pretty cold, but they're all down at a community hall."

Some ferry passengers with minor injuries were flown by helicopter to Prince Rupert, Hartley Bay resident Wally Bolton said. Health officials in Prince Rupert told Canadian Press that 11 people had been treated at a hospital for cuts and scrapes.

Betsy Reece said everyone not out on the water was helping keep people warm and fed at the cultural center, where she works as a social worker. "I'm just totally amazed at how our small community banded together to assist people in need," she said.